Creating a Home Management System that Works: Part 5- Meal Planning

Here we are, the last post in the series! If you took the steps to create a home management binder as we work through this series, congratulations! I hope you feel a sense of order and calm as you seek to steward your talents and time well. If you missed them- no worries, it’s never too late to make some changes and restore order! (linked below)

We've talked about the attitude towards home management, the value and mindset of time management, creating daily schedules, streamlining our house keeping, and now, MEAL PLANNING! *Cheers and groans erupt simultaneously*

Which one are you?

While I don’t put my weekly meal plans in my home management binder I do like to keep a record of meal plan ideas and templates for the seasons when I'm feeling particularly sleep deprived and overwhelmed. It keeps me from feeling like I have to start at ground zero, which feels more than I can bare in those particular seasons.

Credit: Becca Tapert via Unsplash

I appreciate meal planning and home cooking for several reasons:

1. It eliminates decision fatigue.

2. It cuts down on food waste.

3. It makes our money go further.

4. It’s healthier and delicious.

It seems like everyone who meal plans has their own system, and being able to make something your own is critical to creating a system that works. While we don’t expect every woman to fit into the same dress we tend to fall into the idea that a singular home management system will fit the intricacies of everyone’s home.

Heart:

I would argue that you don’t need to love cooking in order to meal plan. (See 4 reasons above) For many years I loathed cooking, it was simply a means to a meal. So, I kept my menus simple and delicious and avoided recipes that had more than 5 steps or several dirty appliances. There’s no shame there! It worked for us.

Since then I’ve come to enjoy cooking. I’ve made some changes that has made it more enjoyable.(maybe I can share in the future?) but suffice to say, I see it as one of the most tangible acts of love and and service I can practice for my people. Taking raw ingredients and transforming them into delicious pleasures that nourish and strengthen or comfort and support the physical bodies of my loved ones is an incredible honor. Even though this fact holds true for all meals I do struggle to apply the mindset to our more harried meals of the day like Sunday Morning breakfast or lunch on any school day. I'm a regular mom, after all.

Meal Planning and cooking can be devoted as an act of praise, service, worship and stewardship. We praise God as we thank him for the access to the abundant food and provision to acquire it. We serve as we work with our hands and give our time to nourish our loved ones. We steward our finances, health and time as we endeavor to do these things. All of these things devoted to living a life pleasing to the Lord is an act of living worship.

Home:

How do we go about meal planning if we haven’t really done it or we have no system? It’s easy to get sucked into endless recipes, or feel overwhelmed with all of the choices. To Make meal planning easy and efficient we need to create a template or a framework- something we can plug recipes into without starting from ground zero every week or month. Another really helpful factor is to look at your family’s daily schedules. For example, if you have a day that‘s typically busy with errands consider crockpot/instant pot meals for this day. If you have a low key day with plenty of time at home, consider doing some of the meal prep for any of your more involved recipes of the week or use these days to try new recipes! I’ll give you a few examples of creating a meal planning template, but if you would like a .pdf you can print out and write on be sure to subscribe so you can get access to the resource library!

Option 1: Theme nights

Meatless Monday

Taco Tuesday: So many types of tacos!

Whatever Wednesday: Try new recipes

Thrifty Thursday: Snacky dinner or leftovers from the week

Favorite Friday: Family favorites

Slow cook Saturday

Seafood Sunday

Another way to do theme nights is simply by type of meal or meat

Option 2: Keep it Simple

Look at what you already have on hand and create your meal plan around those items. Some women will shop sales first and keep store these things to use as the basis of their meal plan. That's a method I greatly admire but have yet to master, personally.

What about Breakfasts, lunches and snacks?

If you're a SAHM or homeschooler like ourselves dinner planning is only a small part of the battle. I have a lot of people that expect to eat an additional 2-4 times a day. I need these meals to be straightforward and streamlined as well. For these, I rotate "meal groups". A meal group is 2-3 staple meals that I rotate throughout the week. I have 3-4 groups so we aren't eating the same for each meal every day. Here are some examples:

Breakfast

Group 1: Smoothies, Oatmeal with fruit, Eggs and toast

Group 2: Yogurt and granola, Bacon & eggs with fruit, Breakfast muffins

Group 3: Roasted veggies with fried eggs, Breakfast "cobbler", Sausage with scrambled eggs

I do this same thing for Lunch and snacks. I'll pick 1 group per week, buy the ingredients needed and rotate the meals.

A couple of great pages to keep in your home management binder are: Family Favorites, Budget Friendly, and Quick & Easy, Holiday & Special Events. If you want a step-by-step workbook to create your very own meal planning template with some more meal ideas, you can grab it here! I designed this pretty workbook to walk you through each step with pages you can print and use over and over again. I’ll also be sending a code to subscribers to access the resource library where I’ve created a free weekly meal planning page for you! (if you’re a new subscriber you can grab it when you fill out the form below!) Do you already meal plan consistently?

What's your biggest struggle when it comes to meal planning? Your friend,

Abbey